Despite the club prioritising value, potential and possible sell-ons, there have been a few examples of getting it very, very wrong. Here are the 10 worst signings of the Mike Ashley era.

Manu Riviere

With Loic Remy having departed after a successful loan spell, United were struggling to sign the striker Alan Pardew desperately needed in 2014.

Enter Riviere: a man Graham Carr had recommended as an option to back up a more experienced forward. Instead Newcastle went with the former Monaco man as their main offensive addition, and it did not work out well.

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The run-up to Liverpool

“We know he will score goals,” Pardew said – optimistically – after he penned a £6million deal. He only managed three – two in a League Cup game and one that bounced off his shin at QPR. Even that doesn’t do justice to just how poor he appeared: little aerial ability, no touch, no presence and not a natural finisher either.

The crowning glory came when Steve McClaren picked him in his final game against Bournemouth. Riviere was so anonymous he was withdrawn on 45 minutes, and the Newcastle Head Coach was gone before the end of the week.

Emmanuel Riviere (Image: 2016 Newcastle United)

Henri Saivet

The oddest of January moves. Saivet had impressed for St Etienne against Liverpool in the Europa League and arrived with decent pedigree but three different managers have now taken a look at him and decided he’s not good enough .

31 games and three goals later, he was loaned out to Marseille as part of the Florian Thauvin deal and there was to be no way back. A huge disappoitment, given the hype.

Newcastle United's Remy Cabella (Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Siem de Jong

Another signing that promised much but delivered little. De Jong was cursed with injuries after signing in 2015 to become Newcastle’s on-field lieutenant and fulfil the number ten role that Pardew was desperate to fill.

He managed 22 games in three seasons and is now back at Ajax.

Newcastle United players in their pre-season training in Ireland (Image: Newcastle United)

Sol Campbell

As important a signing as any in the Mike Ashley era. Chris Hughton pushed for Newcastle to make Campbell an expensive free signing to help them cope with their return to the Premier League – but when he arrived it was soon clear he had a long way to go to get back to that level. Facing a ccusations that he was overweight when he arrived , Campbell was used sparingly and was not given a new contract at the end of that season.

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The board never really forgave Hughton, who was sacked before Christmas, for pushing for the deal and it is the last time Newcastle spent serious money on a big name player oer the age of 30.

Sol Campbell

Seydou Doumbia

A desperate loan signing who was – well – desperate. Newcastle spent big in the January of 2015 to try and extricate themselves from relegation trouble but goals were the problem and they didn’t manage to bring in a striker capable of scoring them.

Instead they signed Doumbia, who came off the bench three times without looking up to it. Rumours that he was well off the pace in training contributed to the feeling that it was a horrendous roll of the dice that came up short.

Seydou Doumbia (Image: Sunday Sun)

Facundo Ferreyra

Newcastle gambled of Ferreyra, an Argentinian playing in Ukraine, on the advice of Fabricio Coloccini. But he just wasn’t good enough and didn’t play a single minute of football for the Magpies.

Florian Thauvin

He had the ability to make a huge impact but simply didn’t want to sign for Newcastle, later admitting the financial part of the package was too good for him and Marseille to turn down. But his reticence to sign became obvious when things started to go wrong, and when he was booed at Watford in the FA Cup he demanded a move back to France.

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Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

Another victim of the Carr/Pardew cold war.

Pardew derided him in private as a centre-back who couldn’t head the ball, and felt his lack of ability in the air would cost Newcastle. You could see that he wasn’t trusted by the fact Mike Williamson and James Perch would often sneak into the team ahead of him.

Yanga-Mbiwa became a cause celebre for those arguing Pardew wasn’t up to it.

Newcastle United's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa

Xisco

The most important – and calamitous – signing in Newcastle’s history?

Signed under Kevin Keegan’s nose, he was responsible for the earthquake that followed and the tremors are still felt in the deeply unhappy relationship supporters have with the United owner. Keegan resigned, Xisco was cited in the tribunal that followed and Ashley’s regime was exposed. It has never recovered.